The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Public Wireless Local Area Networks (PwLAN) enable mobile computer users using a laptop or portable computing device to access information through continuous high-speed communications. PwLAN “hotspots” are the public locations where wireless Internet access can be obtained. Hotspots are typically located in such public areas as coffee shops, hotel lobbies or airport lounges.
Although network access through a PwLAN hotspot typically requires a user to authenticate before access is allowed, a hotspot may allow the user to access certain designated free services before requiring the user to authenticate. When access to an Internet destination does not require identification and/or authentication of the user, the destination is considered to be “free of charge.” Two mechanisms used to determine when a destination is “free of charge”, and therefore accessible by an unauthenticated user, are “Open Gardens” and “White Lists.” An “Open Garden” refers to a collection of domains that a user can access without providing authentication information. A “White List” is a set of specific Internet destinations that are accessible by an unauthorized user. The primary difference between Open Gardens and White Lists is the level at which accessible destinations are defined. Open Gardens allow or deny access to routing domains, while White Lists do not require a physical address and can define specific accessible destinations by URL (Uniform Resource Locator). Closely related to a White List is a “Black List.” When a Black List is used to control access to specific destinations, the user is allowed access to all destinations that are not in the Black List.
White Lists, Black Lists and Open Gardens are typically implemented at the gateway through which the PwLAN hotspot connects to the network. As many hotspots can connect to the network through the same gateway, in these implementations the Open Garden or White List at the gateway applies to all users that connect through a gateway, no matter which hotspot they are using to access the network.
It would be advantageous to be able to configure a White List service such that different White Lists could be applied to different users. However, providing different white lists for different users is complex, because White Lists may be needed before a user is authorized to access network services, or after an unsuccessful authorization attempt. Successful authentication of a user does not imply that a user is authorized to receive all network services, as in the case of users who obtain services on a prepaid or pay-as-you-go basis.
Furthermore, in addition to a White List service, it is desirable to apply user differentiation to other services, such as providing domain-based proxy services or transparent proxy services, determining payment methods, setting Quality of Service parameters for a session, selecting an ISP, determining the rate at which to charge a user, determining how to perform authentication, or determining how to aggregate and distribute accounting information.